I don’t usually write about my job online because it isn’t what the blog is for. However it is for my teaching job that I am soon to be moving.

In a matter of weeks I am moving from the south east of sunny Queensland to the south west, where there is even more sun and lots of red sand. All of the sand I could ever want. While this is an exciting and challenging prospect I am also very sad about leaving behind my first few teaching years and the first school I have worked at.

As the last few weeks have rolled on I have said good-bye to so many people and then the cards and gifts came in. Everytime I received one it made me sad but then I would be happy that I had another memory to take with me, and then I was sad again. Basically I’ve been bouncing along the full emotional spectrum over the last couple of weeks.

I know it is going to be hard. Packing up all my stuff and actually organising it for the move is going to be a nightmare. I’m nearly hemmed in with boxes as it is in my study and all I’ve done so far is bring my stuff home from work. I haven’t even begun packing the stuff that was in my study at home.

But once that is done…

New experiences are amazing things. They broaden the mind and stimulate creativity. They help you to grow and to understand.

I was thinking about my writing the other day. Almost all of my stories are set in fantasy worlds but it is amazing how they all have mountains and forests and coastlines and could very much be mistaken for the undeveloped parts of south east Queensland for anyone who has spent any time there. Each world is unique and yet there are these similarities that crop up again and again.

Since learning about the move I’ve written two new story outlines and put them aside for later (once I have time and am starting a new project). One of them is set in a remote forest community at the base of an extinct volcano but the other is being built around a civilisation in the desert. Probably this is because I’ve been trying to learn about my new home and spending a lot of time looking at google maps.

I’ve also been going off on major flights of fancy. While packing I might uncover an artefact in my house that possesses magical powers and I just didn’t know it was there. Or maybe, when I arrive in my new house there will be a secret door that leads to… Yes, I have an overactive imagination but that’s why I write. When I think ridiculous things I just start planning a story around them.

So in addition to exciting new challenges in the teaching world I am looking forward to trying new things with my writing. 2010 is going to be an adventure and one that I am unlikely to ever forget.

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15 Comments

j-a brocksaid,

that’s a great way to respond to your move, cassandra, to have two storylines waiting for you. when you get back into your writing routine you’ll feel much better, and things will feel more familiar.

on the moving front – packing and unpacking is dreadful. having made a few moves myself, i get the moving company to pack and there are other companies that unpack for you. keep all your electric cords together in labeled box, or you’ll be searching for them. and unpack your kitchen first – it’s easiest, will give you a sense of achievement and you’ll need that stuff almost straight away! label the box where your kettle and cups are so you can make yourself a cuppa.

Thanks. I’m more worried about the cat in the car at the moment (10 hours is going to be painful for both humans and kittens), but over the next couple of days I have to start thinking seriously about packing. It will be good once I can get back into writing though.

Cassandra – I, too, admire your attitude about your move. I felt much the same way when my family moved from the East Coast of the U.S. to the Midwest, and then four years later, to California. The adventure can be a little scary, but it also brings a lot of fun with it : ). Thanks, too, for your insights about making changes in your writing. I think it’s easy to get into a writing pattern that’s comfortable and therefore, can be limiting. It’s not easy to get out of one’s “comfort zone” to try something new with writing, but it can also be exciting and it does help one develop as a writer. Good for you to be willing to take on that challenge.

The scary thing is that until I really thought about it I didn’t even realise I had a comfort zone. I thought I was busy trying out new things – apparently that didn’t apply to my basic setting. Thanks for the comment and the encouragement.

Fiona Skyesaid,

The advice about unpacking your kitchen first is spot-on. I always do that whenever I move and you do feel an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. Plus it makes doing the rest of the house just *that* much more manageable.

And about setting your stories in fantasy worlds that bear an uncanny resemblance to your home, I do the same in my stories. Despite the fact that I haven’t lived in Denver, Colorado, for nearly ten years and have only been back three times since moving away, my stories are invariably set in and around Denver. I think it’s because the settings are so deeply entrenched in my mind – I can hear and smell and taste and feel the landscape and the city. It seems perfectly natural to set stories there. And I do miss it so…it helps lessen the sting of homesickness a bit.

It is hard to write about somewhere you have not experienced. I almost never have snow in my stories because I’ve never seen it and the idea of frozen water pelting down on me doesn’t particularly appeal. That said, I write about a lot of things I’ve never experienced (as far as characters and plot) so I wonder why setting is so different.
Thanks for your comment.

regarding moving with cats, there is a spray you can get from the vets (atleast, you can over here in NZ) it’s like rescue remedy for animals and helps them to settle. I used it on my cats and dog when we moved 5 hours to where I live now and it seemed to help, they were pretty comfortable for the whole trip.

You really do have such a great attitude! moving is always hard work, moving across country is daunting as well as hard but the new experiences that await you are going to be the reward.